Charing Cross Bridge, London

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On View

Date:

1901

Artist:

Claude MonetFrench, 1840-1926

About this artwork

Beginning in September 1899, Claude Monet made almost one hundred paintings of the river Thames in London. These works show only three different views—Charing Cross Bridge and Waterloo Bridge, both painted from the Savoy Hotel; and the Houses of Parliament, painted from Saint Thomas’s Hospital. In the smoggy, industrial city, Monet challenged himself to capture effects of light seen through a dense atmospheric screen. Beyond the rectilinear skeleton of Charing Cross Bridge—reminiscent of bridges in Japanese prints, which the artist collected—rises the ghostlike silhouette of the Houses of Parliament.

Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago/Kimbell Art Museum, 2008), pp. 166–67, cat. 85 (ill.). Simultaneously published as Gloria Groom and Douglas Druick, with the assistance of Dorota Chudzicka and Jill Shaw, The Age of Impressionism at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2008), pp. 166–67, cat. 85 (ill.).

Sold by Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Adrien Hébrard, as agent for the Prince de Wagram (Alexandre Berthier, 4th Prince de Wagram), Paris, Dec. 20, 1905, for 15,000 francs. [The transaction is recorded in the Durand-Ruel, Paris, stock book for 1901–13 (no. 8018, as Londres, Charing Cross Bridge, soleil couchant, 1901): “Sold to Hébrard on 20 December 1905 for 15 000 F [The journalist and art critic Adrien Hébrard worked also as an agent for Alexandre Berthier, Prince de Wagram],” as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 21, 2013, curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago.]

Sold by Durand-Ruel, Paris, to Durand-Ruel, New York, Nov. 11 or Dec. 9, 1915. [The Paris and New York Durand-Ruel stock books record different dates for the sale. The Paris stock book for 1913–21 gives November 11, 1915, as the date (no. 10528, as Londres, Charing Cross Bridge, soleil couchant, 1901): “Sold to DR New York on 11 November 1915.” In the New York stock book for 1904–24 the date given is December 9 (no. 3898, as Londres, Charing Cross Bridge, soleil couchant, 1901) : “Purchased by DR New York on 9 December 1915.” As confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 21, 2013, curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago.]

Sold by Durand-Ruel, New York, to Martin A. Ryerson, Chicago, Feb. 23, 1916, for a painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir [Pivoines, no. 3094], plus $1,000. [A purchase receipt on Durand-Ruel letterhead, dated February 23, 1916, details that this painting (no. 3898, Claude Monet, Charing Cross Bridge, 1901, Soleil couchant) was acquired by M. A. Ryerson, in exchange for a painting by Renoir (no. 3094, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pivoines) in addition to a cash payment of $1,000. Photocopy in curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago. This transaction is also recorded in the Durand-Ruel, New York, stock book for 1904–24 (no. 3898, as Londres, Charing Cross Bridge, soleil couchant, 1901): “Sold to M. A. Ryerson on 23 February 1916 for $ 7 800,” as confirmed by Paul-Louis Durand-Ruel and Flavie Durand-Ruel, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 21, 2013, curatorial object file, Art Institute of Chicago. This transaction is also mentioned in a letter from G. Durand-Ruel to M. A. Ryerson, dated February 23, 1916, which is excerpted in Daniel Wildenstein, Claude Monet: Biographie et catalogue raisonné, vol. 4, Peintures, 1899–1926 (Bibliothèque des Arts, 1985), p. 431, pièce justificative 275. The painting was on loan from Mr. Ryerson to the Art Institute of Chicago, intermittently, by 1921, according to Museum Registration department artists sheets, on file in Museum Registration, Art Institute of Chicago.]